The Starboy of Arsenal, the beating heart of the club, just cannot help himself, can he? Never far from the spotlight. Nearly always in the headlines. Forever heavily involved in everything good done by his teams—Arsenal or England.
Saturday evening, away in Birmingham at Villa Park—against their former manager and the team who did the double over them last season—went about as well for Arsenal as anyone had dared hope. Indeed, it went better than most might have thought it would.
Aston Villa played well. Morgan Rogers was at his flamboyant best, terrorizing the Gunners’ midfield and defense. And yet, Arsenal walked away not just with victory but also what might ultimately prove an important clean sheet. It made for two wins from two to get the season going, and one of the toughest away fixtures in the calendar safely sorted away.
Bukayo Saka, as is his wont, was firmly at the heart of most everything which went right for Arsenal. It was not his best game. Raya, Saliba, and Trossard all shone on the night. Still, it was Saka who got the assist for the second goal, scored by Thomas Partey. It was his run to the byline, his desire to not let the ball run out, and his cutback which led to the opener from Trossard, even if he won’t get credit for it in the form of an official assist.
Member of an Elite Club
One assist then, to add to his goal and assist from last week against Wolves at the Emirates. And he added yet another accolade to his remarkable list of achievements, one more notch on his well-decorated belt.
Arsenal’s 2-0 win away at Aston Villa was the 100th Premier League win of Bukayo Saka’s career. On the day, Saturday 24th August, the Starboy was 22 years, 354 days old. It makes him the third youngest player in Premier League history to amass 100 wins, behind only Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas .
He has managed it four days quicker than Phil Foden, who was 22 years 358 days old at the time of his 100th league victory.
Bukayo by the Numbers
The 100 wins have come from 172 total Premier League appearances, at a win rate of 58.14%. He has scored 48 goals and laid on 37 assists.
In total, Saka has already played 228 senior competitive matches for Arsenal across all competitions, with 59 goals and 55 assists. He has represented the senior England team 40 times, scoring 12 goals and creating another seven.
Bukayo Saka has won the FA Cup and two FA Community Shields with Arsenal. He was named the club’s Player of the Season in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2022-23.
He has finished runners-up twice in the UEFA European Championships with England, in 2020 and 2024, and was named England Men’s Player of the Year in 2021-22 and 2022-23.